The One Where They're Happy
by amidtheflowers
Summary: When Jackie and Hyde start dating, it takes the gang a while to see how that relationship even works. Something that creepy and unnatural can't possibly work, right? Meanwhile, Donna wonders why she puts up with any of them.


Hello everyone!

I'm back at it again with a new fic! This time it's for a long-time favorite ship, Jackie and Hyde. I've been rewatching '70s show and finally felt it was time to do these two some justice. This fic was prompted on tumblr by jenna-pense, of which I've run wild with in my pursuit to fill it.

Enjoy xxx

* * *

 **Eric**

Eric doesn't understand it, not at first.

Nothing changes _too_ much—Hyde still laughs when one of the group gets burned; Jackie still runs her mouth at the speed of light about things nobody understands or cares about. Only now Kelso isn't at the receiving end of a peck when Jackie leans down for a kiss; Hyde is.

It's too much to absorb is what it is, and in many ways it throws Eric off-balance. The group dynamic is shifting and too much is changing at once—Donna going to Catholic school, Fez getting a job at the DMV, Kelso bitterly trying to win back a girl he spent two and a half months cheating on.

"Man, they are so weird," Eric mutters once Hyde and Jackie leave the basement, the door still clattering behind them.

"I know, I would never pick condoms over candy," Fez shakes his head. "Don't they know you can have both _?_ "

"No, I mean they're _weird_." Eric makes an unintelligible gesture where they'd been sitting earlier; Hyde on chair and Jackie perched sweetly on his lap. Just the thought makes him suppress a shudder. "Don't the two of them together creep you out?"

"I dunno Eric," Donna shrugs, "I mean it's not normal, but in a weird way they're kind of perfect for each other."

"Yes, that's what I mean— _weirdly_. Like just now, when Jackie mentioned wanting a new copy of The Captain and Tennille for her birthday? Hyde didn't even burn her. He _smiled_." Eric shakes his head. "She's already got her demon fangs in him!"

"I think you mean Hyde's got his fangs in her," Fez winked.

Donna wrinkled her nose. "Okay, first— _ew_. Second, they're dating now. He's not going to burn her for everything she does that's uncool by Hyde Standards. Let's face it—he wouldn't have stuck around your basement for this long if he didn't look past how lame we all actually are."

"She's right," Fez nods. He glances around thoughtfully. "Do you think we've got enough stuff for another circle?"

Eric's concerns are temporarily abated as they all scramble for another hit, and for a while he forgets all about Hackie and Jyde.

…

Eric rubs his eyes, yawning wearily as he trudges down the basement steps. His throat is still a bit sore despite it being the third day of his cold, and for the first time ever he is none too happy about the mandatory Kitty Forman treatment of fizzy orange popsicles when it's at the dead of night.

As his hand reached out for the freezer, Eric hears soft murmuring. He pauses, frowning. It had come from Hyde's room.

The soft murmuring happens again, this time distinctly feminine. _Jackie_ , Eric thinks, a half little smile quirking up his lips as he sneaks closer to Hyde's slightly open door to lay out an epic burn—and a warning. Red was on high alert ever since he caught Jackie sleeping in Hyde's cot in the middle of the night.

As he reaches the door, he hears Jackie's soft voice wander from the room. "…didn't even say anything about my dad. Not even a 'I miss you Jackie.' 'I'm sorry Jackie.' Just that where she's going they don't have phone reception so don't bother calling. What is that, Alaska?"

"That's rough, man," Hyde replies, his voice matching Jackie's hushed tone. "So she's really not coming back?"

"No. I guess not."

Eric holds his breath, waiting for some remark on Hyde's end, some crack about floosy mothers much like his own, but they don't come. He nearly walks in just then, until he hears a soft sniffle.

Eyes widening, Eric peeks through the door.

They're sitting on the cot, Hyde leaning against the wall and Jackie bundled in his arms. Jackie is silent save for the uneven way she breathes against Hyde's chest, her shoulders tense. Hyde squeezes her closer, running a hand through her hair, and the tension in Jackie's body slackens. With a shuddering breath Jackie lets out a soft sob, and Eric swears on his life he has never seen Hyde look at anyone the way he does at Jackie in that moment.

Eric quietly slips away and returns to his room, unwrapping a popsicle as something warm settles in his chest.

"Man," he says to himself, "Donna is always right."

…

 **Kelso**

Kelso pulls into the Forman driveway quickly and grabs the gift box on the passenger seat—a _new_ one, one he actually bought and paid for. Inside was a little unicorn shirt to make up for, well, pretty much everything. But mostly for Fluffycakes. He saw her ripped open with the stuffing falling out in Bob's garbage bin and knew he had to regain his position as best gift-giver. He tries ignoring the sinking feeling in his stomach, and the voice in his head that keep trying to tell him to let this go. Let Jackie go.

Kelso shakes his head. What does that dumb voice know, anyway?

Plus, Hyde had figured Kelso out and that is the only reason he won. This time Kelso will be sneakier and give the gift when he isn't around…or when he is high.

Just as Kelso reaches the end of the basement steps, he pauses. Through the gap in the curtain he sees exactly what he doesn't want to—Hyde and Jackie, sitting alone together.

"Damn it!" Kelso curses under his breath.

He nearly turns away but freezes when he sees Jackie stand up and pull off her blouse. Kelso's jaw drops as she stands before Hyde with just a bra, not even the silky pink tank top like before.

Just as quickly, though, Jackie slips on a black tee shirt that Kelso instantly recognizes at Hyde's Led Zeppelin shirt he wears all the time. She flips her hair and does a twirl, grinning, and Hyde is grinning back.

Hyde stands up and pulls Jackie in closer to himself with his hands on her hips. Through the door Kelso hears him say, "You didn't have to try it on."

"I wanted to," Jackie smiles up at him. She loops her arms around Hyde's neck and runs her finger through the curls on the back of his head. "I love it, Steven. This is the best birthday present ever! And," Jackie's smile widens, ticking up a brow, "knowing you wore this makes me feel incredibly sexy."

Hyde eyes light up as he leans his forehead against hers. "It definitely looks sexier on you, doll."

They lean in together for a kiss. Kelso glances away and looks at the gift box in his hand. Biting his lip, he goes back up the basement steps and tosses the box inside Bob's trash bin, right on top of Fluffycakes.

 **Fez**

"It can get _wronger_?" Jackie's eyes are alight as she stares at Steven, both of them gazing at each other as if a fire was burning between them.

Within seconds Hyde is on top of Jackie, kissing her slowly and deeply as if Fez isn't there watching them. He half-considers staying; he almost does. But when they continue to kiss, Fez get some kind of feeling that makes him bolt up the basement steps and run past Miss Kitty in the kitchen and straight to the bathroom.

By the time he emerges Miss Kitty has left the house and in her wake is a plate full of muffins. Fez smiles. "Afternoon delight for Fez," he says to himself with satisfaction, and promptly eats three of them within five minutes.

The rest, Fez thinks bitterly, is for the happy couple in the basement. They were not supposed to get back together for the sheer reason that they _should not_ , damn it. Fez grabs the plate of muffins and prepares to pelt them at Jackie and Hyde from the stairs.

When he opens the door he hears a breathless sigh—a loud, breathless sound that could only have come from a man (Fez knows this because it's come from himself plenty of times by now).

Fez only makes it three steps before he stops in his tracks.

…And promptly whirls around and leaves the basement, dropping the plate of muffins on the kitchen counter and skips the bathroom for the front door, intent on going home. This level of need will only be satisfied in his own bed.

For Jackie had been topless and grinding hard against Hyde, though he did not see very much and only managed a glimpse of Jackie's bare back. She'd been holding onto the arm rest of the couch as she undulated her hips, her perfect ass clenching and unclenching—when suddenly Hyde leaned up and gathered her in his arms before swiftly switching their positions.

Jackie had gasped and squealed, and they both laughed as Hyde sank back into her. Jackie and Hyde groaned together, loudly, and she hooked a leg on the top of the couch as Hyde grabbed the other leg by the knee and held it further apart.

" _Aiii_ ," Fez whines as he runs faster to his house, forcing himself to stop reliving what he'd just seen.

 **Donna**

It starts with a fact.

"I need to see Jackie."

Hyde is looking at her, determined. It's the first she's seen him this serious since he found out Jackie had left for Chicago. That, and when he found out Led Zeppelin was touring in Wisconsin.

She wants to tell him _do it then_. Do it, because next thing you know the dumbass you're in love with will decide all on his own that he wants to go to goddamn _Africa_. When she thinks of this the sadness comes flooding back, nearly robbing the breath from her lungs.

But Hyde is still looking at her, and she realizes what she says next…might actually mean something. Might influence this moment. Hyde never, in the years they've been friends, has been comfortable in letting his guard down the way he is now. She's seen it once, twice at most. Neither of those times were as vulnerable as he is right now.

So instead, Donna nods. "Let's go get her, then."

Hyde raises an eyebrow. "You want to come?"

"Yeah, I'll drive the Camino. You just worry about what you want to say to her when you see her."

Hyde looks at her, really looks at her. "Donna, hey…"

Donna glances away. "Damn. I forgot how good you are at reading me. We've been around so many boneheads I keep forgetting you're not one of them." When she glances up at him, Hyde shrugs.

"Not easy having someone you care about leave," he says simply.

Donna nods again. "It's really not. But yours is still on this continent, so let's not waste that."

They smile at each other and Hyde tosses the keys to the El Camino to Donna. She catches it swiftly and opens the basement door, holding it open for him.

…

Hyde's only gone for ten minutes at Jackie's hotel before he comes back to the car, looking more pissed off and gut-wrenched than ever before.

She's alarmed when he skips the passenger door and goes straight for where Donna's sitting. He yanks open the door and points his thumb backwards. "I need the car."

"Hyde, what happened?" Donna asks.

"Nothing. I need to drive."

"O..kay…" Donna starts to scoot into the passenger seat when Hyde vehemently shakes his head.

"No, you need to get out of the car. I have to get out of here."

"Hyde, I need to go home too. You can't just leave me stranded here," Donna says, incredulously.

"Not a problem. Kelso can drive you home. C'mon," Hyde grabs her arm and ushers her out of the car, much to Donna's dismay. He barely looks at her and doesn't say a word when he slams the door closed and revs up the car, then speeds out of the parking lot.

"Kelso?" Donna says in confusion. She glances at the hotel and sees Jackie running towards her wearing nothing but a pink sundress; her feet are bare against the concrete.

"Steven! _Steven!_ " Jackie shouts after the El Camino that is now nothing but a blur in the distance. Jackie runs her hands through her hair, her fingers shaking wildly.

"Jackie, what is going?" Donna asks, grabbing her by the wrists and pulling her hands away from her hair.

"He left. Why would he leave—why doesn't he ever _listen?_ " Jackie despairs. "Nothing was happening. Nothing ever happens and he thinks the worst and leaves."

"Is Kelso here?"

Jackie nods, rolling her eyes as her they mist over and she tells Donna what happened.

Donna looks between Jackie and the highway, her eyes flickering between them twice.

"Go get him."

Jackie's eyes widen, and Donna wants to scream.

"Look, do you love Hyde?" Donna demands.

Jackie blinks. "Y-yes. Of course I do. I love him, even though he's an idiot." Jackie says that last bit with an angry glare at the highway.

Donna sighs inwardly, relieved. God, two dumbasses in two days.

"Then go get him. Don't wait, don't go back to Point Place. He came all this way for you. You didn't seem, Jackie. When he told me he was coming to see you…" Donna shakes her head, and Jackie bites a trembling lip. "We all know he's an idiot about Kelso and paranoid about you cheating on him. This is where you put your foot down and set him straight."

Jackie looks at Donna with surprise, then a calm settles over her. Jackie straightens and quickly wipes her eye. "No, you're right Donna. You're absolutely right. Come on," she turns on her heel and strides towards the Lincoln.

"Are you sure you'll catch up with him?" Donna asks as she buckles her seatbelt.

"God, his car backfires like a firework, Donna. I'll find him." Jackie's got a determined look in her eye, and Donna smiles.

True to her word, within five miles on the highway not only do they hear a resounding car backfire, but fifteen miles later they see the El Camino parked at a gas station. Jackie had been frowning deeply since the last exit when she realized where Hyde intended to run away to. It definitely wasn't Point Place.

They both get out of the car. Donna hangs back a little as Jackie strides towards Hyde. He doesn't realize it's her until he notices a very angry and very small woman charging towards him. Hyde's eyes widen comically and he automatically shrinks back when Jackie finally reaches him.

"STEVEN FUCKING HYDE!"

Jackie's arms twitch like she means to push him, but she doesn't. She uses all her fury and hurt through her body language and it adds ten inches to her height, each word hitting Hyde harder than any kick on his shins.

"You. Are. Such. A. BONEHEAD!"

"Jackie, what the hell?" Hyde hisses, finally regaining his composure enough to glare at her. "What're you doing here?"

"I should be saying that to you. A self-serve gas station, Steven? Really? Have I taught you nothing?"

"Yeah, too bad most of the country _has_ self-serve gas stations."

"That's a patent lie and you know it."

"So, what, you came here to yell at me about where I pump my gas? Let me spare you the time and tell you to take a hike. Over _there._ "

Donna nearly bangs her head against the car, desperately trying not to intervene. This one had to be hashed out between the two of them.

"No, Steven. I'm not leaving. I am never leaving and you're never getting rid of me either. I had nothing to do with Kelso coming to my hotel. You know that."

"Whatever." Hyde looks away.

"No, _look at me_." Jackie takes his jaw in her hand and forces him to look into her eyes. "Fucking look at me."

Hyde says nothing. He's staring at her, and his sunglasses are on, but he goes completely still. Donna holds her breath, worry and anticipation coursing through her.

"I. Love you," Jackie says, a little softer but no less firm. "Nobody in this entire universe will ever have my body or my heart except you."

Hyde still hasn't spoken. Donna notices a few people glancing over at Jackie and Hyde and Donna shouts, "This ain't a free show, people, buzz off!"

Jackie slowly lets go of Steven's face. "You came here for a reason, Steven. You wanted to see me. That has to _mean_ something."

Hyde shrugs lightly, looking down at the ground. Jackie bites her lip. "It means something to me. Driving all the way from Point Place to Chicago isn't nothing. Right?"

Hyde shifts, still not meeting her eyes.

Jackie stares up at him for a long moment. "I don't want to get married."

Hyde's gaze snaps up to Jackie. "What?"

Jackie shrugs, crossing her arms. "I don't want to get married. This time apart from you made me realize it's not something I want."

Hyde's total look of confusion mirrors the one Donna's wearing. Her jaw has dropped, not believing what she's hearing.

"Jackie, that's crazy. This whole thing started because of our future together. Of you wanting a proposal—"

"Yeah, and then what? Each time that happens and each time we break up, the more I realize how worthless holding onto that dream is when it means we can't be together. None of that matters if I can't be with you, Steven."

Hyde closes his eyes, exhaling. "Jackie…" He opens his eyes and steps closer to her, bringing his hands up to loosely hold her wrists. "You should've told me that before I bought a goddamn ring."

Donna gasps as Jackie's eyes widen. "You bought a ring?" Jackie covers her mouth.

Hyde stares. "…No."

Jackie narrows her eyes. "Liar." Then, she shakes her head and takes a step back. "But it's okay. We're not ready for that. I don't want to force you into an engagement, Steven. It was wrong of me to ask for that when we've only just left high school."

"Jackie, I…" Hyde shifts again, as if saying the words was difficult for him, and he closes the space between them as he moves closer. "I do see a future with you. Hell, I can't see a future without you—not one where I'm not piss drunk and miserable."

A smile creeps on Jackie's face. "Oh, Steven…" She reaches over to take his face in her hands, her thumbs stroking his cheeks. "Tell me honestly. Are you ready for being married? Because no offense Donna," Jackie tosses a quick glance at Donna, who gives her a thumbs up in return, "but early weddings with your high school sweetheart seem to be cursed. And being away in Chicago, working here…" Jackie looks at Hyde seriously. "It's opened my eyes. There's a lot of things I want before I settle down. I want a successful career, I want to earn my own money. I want to go to college. I want to own a condo. I'm realizing all this will be harder to do if we do this the way I originally wanted to."

Hyde clears his throat. "I definitely don't think either of us are ready to be married yet. I'm not," he replies honestly. "But I will do whatever it takes to be with you, Jackie. You're it for me."

"Aww," Donna smiles, and Hyde glances at her and snaps, "Shut it!"

When he turns back to Jackie, he glances down and pauses. "Are you barefoot?"

Jackie looks down at her bare toes and wiggles them. She smiles up, shrugging a shoulder. "Guess I am."

"You drove here without shoes?"

"Mm-hm."

"Just to catch up with me on the highway?"

"Mm-hm."

Hyde stares at her. "That is so hot."

"Oh yeah."

Hyde takes her face in his hands and kisses her, long and slow. His fingers slip through her hair as he presses their foreheads together.

"Steven?"

"Yeah?"

"If you ever assume I'm cheating on you with Michael again, I will hunt you down and rip off _both_ your heads."

"Point taken."

Hyde breaks away from Jackie to walk over to Donna. He takes off his sunglasses. "Hey," he says.

"Hey," Donna replies, smiling.

"Thanks for, you know." Hyde smiles a little.

Donna nods. "You two deserve the best. Seriously."

She's surprised when Hyde pulls her in for a hug. It's quick but not impersonal, and she knows just how much this meant for him. Him and Jackie both.

When they break apart, Hyde hands over the keys to the El Camino. "Here. For your drive home. I'm gonna stay a while with Jackie." He shifts a little uneasily, clearing his throat. "Sorry for being a total dick when I left."

Donna's smile widens as she twirls the keyring around her finger. "That's alright. I'm sure you'll find another way to make it up to me."

Rolling his eyes, Hyde walks back over to Jackie. As Donna settles inside the El Camino, she sees Hyde pick Jackie up bridal style and head towards the Lincoln. Donna can hear Jackie's protests through the open window, "Steven, my feet are fine! I only touched the pedals and car mats!"

Smiling to herself, Donna starts the car and begins her drive back to Wisconsin, knowing that they'll all be alright.

* * *

Thanks for reading! If you liked this and would want to see more for this ship, let me know what you thought! I have some ideas I'm toying with for more lengthier J/H fic. xx


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